Orphan at My Door

Orphan at My Door
Orphan at My Door: The Home Child Diary of Victoria Cope, Guelph, Ontario, 1897
Author(s)	Jean Little
Country	Canada
Language	English
Series	Dear Canada
Subject(s)	Literature
Genre(s)	Historical fiction
Publisher	Scholastic Canada Ltd.
Publication date	September, 2001
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	221
ISBN	0-439-98834-9
OCLC Number	46626131
Followed by	A Prairie as Wide as the Sea

Orphan at My Door, written by Jean Little, is the first book in the Dear Canada series of novels written by various artists. The book is a diary about a fictional character named Victoria. There is an epilogue, historical note and some black and white pictures in the back of the book. There is also an "About the Author" at the very back. It is suggested that Jean Little is the creator of Dear Canada because was the one that wrote the first book in the series, but truly, the creator of Dear Canada is unknown.

Orphan at My Door was first printed and released in Canada during September 2001 by Scholastic Canada Ltd. Orphan at My Door is only to be printed in the English language and in Canada.

Plot

The book tells the story of Victoria Cope, following her experience of hosting a home child - an orphan from England sent to Canada by Barnardo's, essentially as a servant, receiving care and education in exchange. The Copes end up with a girl Victoria's age, named Marianna Wilson. She tells Victoria about her life in England, and as they become friends Victoria becomes more aware of some of the discrimination that Marianna faces from the local children, as well as from members of Victoria's own family, notably her oldest brother, David.
Something seems to be distracting Marianna and one night Victoria wakes up and finds Marianna in the barn with her younger brother, Jasper, who had escaped from the home where he was placed after his guardian whipped him and broke his arm. The family must decide what to do with Jasper, which is made difficult by David's attitude towards the home children. The book ends with an epilogue detailing where Marianna and Victoria went in their lives, and explaining how the home child program worked.